Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
SAFARI
Safari, in a word: Unbelievable.
Safari, in a lot of words:
My main goal for safari was to end my previous reputation as human wildlife repellent, which I achieved during a trip in Maine a few years ago. In the Maine wilderness, all I wanted to see was one moose. "Oh, we've never NOT seen a moose," Kersten and her dad said. "You'll probably see a ton." After spending hours and hours driving around searching for the elusive moose, we quit and returned to Boston. I was disappointed, but I figured the moose population was somehow massively dwindling or something. Unfortunately for me, every time they've gone since, they seem to see thousands, if not millions, of moose. So I was nervous that on safari, I would have a similar impact on the animals.
We arrived back in Dar from Mtwara on Friday, September 8th. Luckily, we arranged to borrow the car that Meg owned when she lived in Dar from its current owner, and early Saturday morning we set off towards Mikumi National Park, about 4 hours west of Dar. We got to our camp and headed out immediately for a game drive. It's amazing to me how quickly we went from amazement to boredom - whereas at first we were going nuts for every single animal we saw, after about an hour we found ourselves saying "Another zebra??" or "Oh, it's just a group of 30 impala again." That first day, we saw many, many animals including (in order of coolness) impala, zebra, giraffes, and elephants.
It seems like a lot of people really want to see lions when they go on safari. I really wanted to see elephants, and I saw a ton of them. There is really no creature more amazing looking than an elephant...they look so prehistoric and out of place, and I couldn't get enough of them. On the morning of our second day, we were driving around for a few hours, not seeing much, when we decided to pull over to a dam to look for animals. Being the start of the dry season, the best place to spot animals was at watering holes. As we pulled in, it looked like there was nothing there. When we got closer, we noticed some movement, which turned out to be a lion! How lucky we were to see one lion, when the camp manager told us that no one had seen one for a few days. Slowly, we noticed that there were more lions. And more. Each lion stood up from the grass and walked up onto a dirt mound, and by the end we were looking at a pride of 10. A few minutes later, a group of about 15 elephants came to the same watering hole, with a few baby elephants in tow. This was like hitting the jackpot; we were so lucky that I expected a flock of pegasus or unicorns to show up next.
The rest of the weekend continued to be amazing, with more incredible animals and beautiful scenery. The African savannah is a spot that everyone should get to at some point, if possible, because it is beautiful beyond words.
I just discovered that I'm having trouble adding photos to this post. This post will be much more interesting with photos, so I'll work on a solution. Stay tuned!
Safari, in a lot of words:
My main goal for safari was to end my previous reputation as human wildlife repellent, which I achieved during a trip in Maine a few years ago. In the Maine wilderness, all I wanted to see was one moose. "Oh, we've never NOT seen a moose," Kersten and her dad said. "You'll probably see a ton." After spending hours and hours driving around searching for the elusive moose, we quit and returned to Boston. I was disappointed, but I figured the moose population was somehow massively dwindling or something. Unfortunately for me, every time they've gone since, they seem to see thousands, if not millions, of moose. So I was nervous that on safari, I would have a similar impact on the animals.
We arrived back in Dar from Mtwara on Friday, September 8th. Luckily, we arranged to borrow the car that Meg owned when she lived in Dar from its current owner, and early Saturday morning we set off towards Mikumi National Park, about 4 hours west of Dar. We got to our camp and headed out immediately for a game drive. It's amazing to me how quickly we went from amazement to boredom - whereas at first we were going nuts for every single animal we saw, after about an hour we found ourselves saying "Another zebra??" or "Oh, it's just a group of 30 impala again." That first day, we saw many, many animals including (in order of coolness) impala, zebra, giraffes, and elephants.
It seems like a lot of people really want to see lions when they go on safari. I really wanted to see elephants, and I saw a ton of them. There is really no creature more amazing looking than an elephant...they look so prehistoric and out of place, and I couldn't get enough of them. On the morning of our second day, we were driving around for a few hours, not seeing much, when we decided to pull over to a dam to look for animals. Being the start of the dry season, the best place to spot animals was at watering holes. As we pulled in, it looked like there was nothing there. When we got closer, we noticed some movement, which turned out to be a lion! How lucky we were to see one lion, when the camp manager told us that no one had seen one for a few days. Slowly, we noticed that there were more lions. And more. Each lion stood up from the grass and walked up onto a dirt mound, and by the end we were looking at a pride of 10. A few minutes later, a group of about 15 elephants came to the same watering hole, with a few baby elephants in tow. This was like hitting the jackpot; we were so lucky that I expected a flock of pegasus or unicorns to show up next.
The rest of the weekend continued to be amazing, with more incredible animals and beautiful scenery. The African savannah is a spot that everyone should get to at some point, if possible, because it is beautiful beyond words.
I just discovered that I'm having trouble adding photos to this post. This post will be much more interesting with photos, so I'll work on a solution. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Tandahimba
The funny thing about this trip so far is the amount of time I’ve spent in each place relative to the total amount of time I’ve been out of the US. So far, I’ve spent 4 days in Addis Ababa, 5 days in Dar es Salaam, 3 days in Mtwara, and 1 day in Tandahimba. I’ll be in Mtwara for another 4 days, then I’m going back to Dar es Salaam for a couple days, then back to Addis. So despite the fact that I’ve been in Africa for close to 2 weeks now, I don’t really feel like I’ve gotten a good enough feel for any of the places I’ve been to comment on them with great detail or insight.
However, that doesn’t mean I won’t try, even if the final product is lacking in detail and insight. Heck, I can’t even supply those things about places I’ve lived for years! Since I’m going to spend a lot more time in Addis, I think I’ll leave the description of that city for a time when I’m more learned in the details of it. As of now, I’ve only once ventured more than 1 block from our house; my experiences have included purchasing coffee and food, and not much more.
I wrote this large paragraph which basically said the following: Latin America and Africa are, for all intents and purposes, the same. After today, I think I need to take back that statement. It actually would have been fairly simple to have never admitted I said it, but I think the similarities and dissimilarities are enough to warrant commentary. Yesterday, I thought that the people, landscape, economy, etc, were all very similar. And then I spent a day in Tandahimba.
We were told that Tandahimba means, in some kind of translation of a translation, “Demon Lion.” This is partly due to the fact that apparently there are lions in the area, and partly due to some other facts which I was unable to ascertain. Upon hearing this, I knew that Latin America and Africa are not the same. While it is somewhat common in Africa (relatively speaking) to be eaten by a lion, this is largely impossible in Latin America. I also experienced something that I’ve never even come close to experiencing in Latin America, which is this: little kids have only seen a couple of white people in their entire lives. In fact, we spent much of last evening’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast making and breaking eye contact with small Tandahimban children who would look us in the eye, scream and run away, and then repeat the process. It didn’t make me feel bad, but it did make me feel a little bit weird.
Now it’s 8:05pm and I’m working back at the CHAI Mtwara house – when you live with your coworkers, it’s kind of hard to draw a visible line between work and non-work time. We generally end up working kind of inefficiently from 9 to 9, which is kind of funny given that our group’s job is to help other people run their operations more efficiently.
ANYWAY, I’m still enjoying Africa very much – it’s been nearly 2 weeks and was most definitely expecting to have experienced some serious traveler’s health problems by now, so the lack thereof makes me feel as though I’m doing as well as I could have hoped. I’ve met some of the most genuinely nice people of all time and seen some of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. All in all, the past 2 weeks has been the experience of a lifetime, and I’m thrilled that I get to have another 3.5 months of it.
However, that doesn’t mean I won’t try, even if the final product is lacking in detail and insight. Heck, I can’t even supply those things about places I’ve lived for years! Since I’m going to spend a lot more time in Addis, I think I’ll leave the description of that city for a time when I’m more learned in the details of it. As of now, I’ve only once ventured more than 1 block from our house; my experiences have included purchasing coffee and food, and not much more.
I wrote this large paragraph which basically said the following: Latin America and Africa are, for all intents and purposes, the same. After today, I think I need to take back that statement. It actually would have been fairly simple to have never admitted I said it, but I think the similarities and dissimilarities are enough to warrant commentary. Yesterday, I thought that the people, landscape, economy, etc, were all very similar. And then I spent a day in Tandahimba.
We were told that Tandahimba means, in some kind of translation of a translation, “Demon Lion.” This is partly due to the fact that apparently there are lions in the area, and partly due to some other facts which I was unable to ascertain. Upon hearing this, I knew that Latin America and Africa are not the same. While it is somewhat common in Africa (relatively speaking) to be eaten by a lion, this is largely impossible in Latin America. I also experienced something that I’ve never even come close to experiencing in Latin America, which is this: little kids have only seen a couple of white people in their entire lives. In fact, we spent much of last evening’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast making and breaking eye contact with small Tandahimban children who would look us in the eye, scream and run away, and then repeat the process. It didn’t make me feel bad, but it did make me feel a little bit weird.
Now it’s 8:05pm and I’m working back at the CHAI Mtwara house – when you live with your coworkers, it’s kind of hard to draw a visible line between work and non-work time. We generally end up working kind of inefficiently from 9 to 9, which is kind of funny given that our group’s job is to help other people run their operations more efficiently.
ANYWAY, I’m still enjoying Africa very much – it’s been nearly 2 weeks and was most definitely expecting to have experienced some serious traveler’s health problems by now, so the lack thereof makes me feel as though I’m doing as well as I could have hoped. I’ve met some of the most genuinely nice people of all time and seen some of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. All in all, the past 2 weeks has been the experience of a lifetime, and I’m thrilled that I get to have another 3.5 months of it.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tanzania is pretty amazing
Hello! I knew that when I started this blog, I would be faced with initial disinterest. My friend Judy told me about 1.5 years ago that blogging was passe. If it was passe 1.5 years ago, is it super passe now, or is it retro? Food for thought. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that people are keeping up - I'll try to make things more interesting in the future!
Anyway, right now I'm in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We arrived on Monday and did 2 half-day trainings yesterday and today. The group we were training is called the Mkapa fellows, and they are Tanzanian clinicians who receive additional training and salary as incentive to spend 3 years in a rural district providing HIV care. It's an interesting mix of people who seem genuinely committed to caring for people who have harder access to care and those who are doing it for the financial incentives. Either way, I think the benefit of their participation will outweigh any possible concerns about their decision to participate.
We've finalized our safari plans: we're going to a place called Mikumi for the weekend of September 8th. There will be a link on this blog to more information about the park, but I have been guaranteed that it will be the best experience of my life. So stay tuned!
Anyway, right now I'm in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We arrived on Monday and did 2 half-day trainings yesterday and today. The group we were training is called the Mkapa fellows, and they are Tanzanian clinicians who receive additional training and salary as incentive to spend 3 years in a rural district providing HIV care. It's an interesting mix of people who seem genuinely committed to caring for people who have harder access to care and those who are doing it for the financial incentives. Either way, I think the benefit of their participation will outweigh any possible concerns about their decision to participate.
We've finalized our safari plans: we're going to a place called Mikumi for the weekend of September 8th. There will be a link on this blog to more information about the park, but I have been guaranteed that it will be the best experience of my life. So stay tuned!
Friday, August 25, 2006
Tanzania: The next destination
Okay, so we arrived safely in Addis Ababa. It is a fascinating city - as one book said, it's where the ancient world meets modern Africa. Having never been to any other part of Africa, I can't really comment on its difference, but so far, I love it. We're staying in a house owned by CHAI that is luxurious and ridiculously large. We'll be here for just a few days before we head to Tanzania for about 2 weeks to give a talk to some Tanzanian doctors and then head to the southern part of the country (Mtwara) for about a week to do some resource planning with a rural clinic. After that, we're taking the weekend to go on safari! I anticipate that this will be absolutely incredible, so expect some glorious photos in a couple of weeks.
For now, I'm still aware that African geography is tough, so here's the same map as before, but with Tanzania circled. Be sure to check out the clickable interactive map of Africa in the links on the right to learn more about these countries and all the other wonders of the continent.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
The great eyepatch bet of '06
As many of you know, I was recently involved in a bet. For those of you who don't, I'll give you a quick rundown of the terms. I work with 3 other people, 2 of whom are with me in Ethiopia (Meg and Adam) and 1 of whom (Elizabeth) is not, largely due to the fact that she was due to give birth this week. Being the unique group we are, Meg, Adam and I placed a bet on the sex of Elizabeth's impending child.
The bets:
Meg: baby will be a girl
Adam and Kate: baby will be a boy
The stakes:
Loser(s) has/have to wear an eyepatch on the flight to Ethiopia.
For some reason, I felt quite confident that this baby would be a boy. Many of you might know that I rarely place bets that I'm not 98% certain I'll win. This was a clear exception, because it's obvious that there's no way I could have any certainty in this bet. Nonetheless, the hands were shaken and the bet was on.
This past Saturday night, I had a get together with a number of my friends and coworkers to celebrate my impending departure. Around 9pm, we received a text message. The sender was Elizabeth, and the message said the following: 2 I patches. Girl.
As I try to be true to my word (with the one exception of when I bet Kersten that she couldn't make a basketball shot and she did and then I didn't pay up - Kersten, I'll make it up to you some day, I promise), I slapped the patch on immediately when we got seated at the gate at Logan.
In case you're wondering, the matching outfits weren't part of the bet, it just so happens that all 3 of us wore the exact same outfit for our flight. Jeans + black t shirt: the CSHOR uniform.
Prizes may be awarded to the person who can come up with the best plausible explanation for why 2 people travelling together might both be wearing eye patches on opposite eyes.
The bets:
Meg: baby will be a girl
Adam and Kate: baby will be a boy
The stakes:
Loser(s) has/have to wear an eyepatch on the flight to Ethiopia.
For some reason, I felt quite confident that this baby would be a boy. Many of you might know that I rarely place bets that I'm not 98% certain I'll win. This was a clear exception, because it's obvious that there's no way I could have any certainty in this bet. Nonetheless, the hands were shaken and the bet was on.
This past Saturday night, I had a get together with a number of my friends and coworkers to celebrate my impending departure. Around 9pm, we received a text message. The sender was Elizabeth, and the message said the following: 2 I patches. Girl.
As I try to be true to my word (with the one exception of when I bet Kersten that she couldn't make a basketball shot and she did and then I didn't pay up - Kersten, I'll make it up to you some day, I promise), I slapped the patch on immediately when we got seated at the gate at Logan.
In case you're wondering, the matching outfits weren't part of the bet, it just so happens that all 3 of us wore the exact same outfit for our flight. Jeans + black t shirt: the CSHOR uniform.
Prizes may be awarded to the person who can come up with the best plausible explanation for why 2 people travelling together might both be wearing eye patches on opposite eyes.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
What I'm doing
I recently found out something interesting: no one knows what I'm doing in Africa. So I'm going to try to explain it in a few sentences.
We (the Consortium for Strategic HIV Operations Research, or CSHOR) are using a mathematical modelling tool to do resource planning with governments. I know what you're thinking: Huh? We work with HIV treatment programs to help them plan their resource needs, and by resources, I mean human resources, HIV drugs, and lab tests. We'll be travelling all over the region doing this, so Ethiopia is just home base.
Hope that makes sense!
We (the Consortium for Strategic HIV Operations Research, or CSHOR) are using a mathematical modelling tool to do resource planning with governments. I know what you're thinking: Huh? We work with HIV treatment programs to help them plan their resource needs, and by resources, I mean human resources, HIV drugs, and lab tests. We'll be travelling all over the region doing this, so Ethiopia is just home base.
Hope that makes sense!
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